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Case managers serve as care coaches for Medicaid-Medicare population

A new Affordable Care Act demonstration project in Illinois has case managers working with a Medicare-Medicaid population to meet their psychosocial needs in addition to monitoring their health.

Care coaches assist Medicaid members

The care coaching model of case management provided through the Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative (MAI) in Illinois provides social support to people at risk for escalating health problems.

Hypertension a risk for many hospital workers

Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and other leading causes of death, and now a new study has found that some hospital workers have significantly higher risk of developing the disease.

CMS memo to surveyors leads to ASC policy — Surveys targeting infection control breaches

With reports that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) told its surveyors to contact public health departments immediately if they see flagrant breaches of infection control, one surgery center has developed a new policy and procedure on infection control breaches.

Patients need guidance when sharing genetic screening results: Consider ethics

A patient came for a consult for a prophylactic bilateral salpingoopherectomy the removal of fallopian tubes and ovaries because of a strong maternal family history of breast cancer.

ACA shifts liability to patients: Bioethicists must be "watchdogs" to ensure ethical care

The ethical justification for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is distributive justice, with the goal of making health insurance available to more Americans, notes Dennis M. Sullivan, MD, director of the Center for Bioethics at Cedarville (OH) University

Providers need reminder: End-of-life decisions aren’t only up to patient and family

At the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, MO, about 80% of ethics consults are called for patients who are either dying or near death in the critical care setting, estimates David A. Fleming, MD, MA, FACP, professor of medicine, chairman of the Department of Medicine and director of the Center for Health Ethics.

Ebola spotlights growing tension between patient autonomy and public health

Should cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) be given to end-stage Ebola patients, despite the risk to health care providers? What training is necessary at this point to ensure staff and patients are protected?

Research participants’ social media use can compromise study’s validity

Blogs, message boards, and patient communities are being used not only by patients, but also by research participants. In some cases, this reveals whether or not a participant is taking actual medication or placebos, compromising the studys validity.

Undocumented patients face unique ethical concerns with end-of-life care

In one sense, undocumented patients are like any other patients some have health insurance, but many will not. Whats particularly challenging is that undocumented patients who are uninsured will usually not qualify for the safety net programs that provide assistance for similar patients with citizenship, says Mark Kuczewski, PhD, chair of the Department of Medical Education and director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics at Loyola University in Maywood, IL.